Integrating zoogeomorphology and global change in cold fluvial systems: toward a new understanding of biotic-geophysical feedback

It is important research fields of global change ecology to study the influence that global climate change has on ecosystem and agroforestry, environmental factor such as water resources. And it is also important scientific basis on which to cope with climate change, to manage ecosystem adaptively and to make relevant policies. If the change of the earth system’s strength power is the ultimate concern of global climate change study, it will be to focus on questions to recognize the change of ecosystem’s structure, process, and function motivated by climate change and human activities. The earth feeds on massive diverse natural ecosystem, and diverse semi-natural semi-artificial ecosystem, which is already a result of a long-term adaption of the earth to natural environment and human activities. In that case, the adaption research of the ecosystem to the environment change plays a key role in humans getting to know what influence global changes may have on the supporting capacity of earth system. This chapter mainly concerns about the ecosystem’s adaptability. It is defined as the adaptive abilities of lowering environment changes’ negative influence and making good use of favorable opportunities when environment changes but the ecosystem tries to maintain its main functions. And this balance mechanism and adaptability of ecosystem is a basis on which to judge the influence degrees of global changes on ecosystem’s structure and function. To dig into this question, we generally study from two different perspectives, one of which is global changes’ influence on the ecosystem, and the other one is the ecosystem’s responses to these changes, which is the principal framework of this chapter.

Simulations of forest system response and feedbacks to global change: experiences and results from the U.S. Country Studies Program

Contemporary interdisciplinary research on human-induced global environmental change recognizes two broad and overlapping fields of study (67). That of industrial metabolism investigates the flow of materials and energy through the chain of extraction, production, consumption, and disposal of modem industrial society. That of land-use/land-cover change, our concern here, deals with the alteration of the land surface and its biotic cover. Environmental changes of either kind become global change in one of two ways (106): by affecting a globally fluid system (the atmosphere, world climate, sea level) or by occurring in a localized or patchwork fashion in enough places to sum up to a globally significant total. Land-use change contributes to both kinds of global change: to such systemic changes as trace-gas accumulation and to such cumulative or patchwork impacts as biodiversity loss, soil degradation, and hydrological change. Land-use/land-cover change is a hybrid category. Land use denotes the human employment of the land and is studied largely by social scientists. Land cover denotes the physical and biotic character of the land surface and is studied largely by natural scientists. Connecting the two are proximate sources of change: human activities that directly alter the physical environment. These activities reflect human goals that are shaped by underlying social driving forces. Proximate sources change the land cover, with further environmental consequences that may ultimately feed back to affect land use. Contemporary global environmental change is clearly unique. The human reshaping of the earth has reached a truly global scale, is unprecedented in its magnitude and rate, and increasingly involves significant impacts on the

Global changes in marine systems: A social–ecological approach

Available evidence of recent climate‐induced physical and chemical changes in the oceans is summarized, including changes in sea temperatures, nutrient supply, mixing and circulation, trace element supply, acidification, and sea‐level rise. The biological responses in the marine environment to these documented physical changes are then presented by trophic level. Our ability to project ecosystem responses to likely future global change is discussed, including numerous examples of existing projections for several regions of the world's oceans. This chapter concludes with a discussion of a vision of the next steps that are needed to develop better models capable of improving our projections of ecosystem responses to global change.

Global Climate and Environmental Change is an international hot field. To enhance native awareness on climate change is one mission of "State Policy and Action on Climate Change 2009 in China". As an implement, a course on Global Climate and Environmental Change has been opened in Shanghai Normal University since 2005. The course includes three fields. In the first field, it is introduced on which problems and harms have been caused from Global Climate and Environmental Changes according to UNEP Year Books 2003~2013. In the second field, to introduce the Earth System and Climate-Environment Change. In the third part, the hot climate-environmental issues are analyzed and discussed. By joining this course, the students have understanding earth system science and global change. It helped students to set up the view of ecological civilization of the harmonious development between human and nature, inspire students responsibility to protect the earth. During past 8 year, there were 4 to 5 classes opening for different levels in Shanghai Normal University for each year, more than 1000 students joined the study in the course.

Westminster College of Salt Lake City (WCSLC) was awarded in late August 1995 a grant to participate in the USRA (Universities Space Research Association) Cooperative University-based Program in Earth System Science Education (ESSE) along with twenty-one new university members within the consortium. The grant is to pay for interdisciplinary curriculum development and scientific exchange between students and faculty across the US focusing on Earth system science and global environmental change. A particular focus is on experimentation with new electronic and multimedia tools for teaching about global change, e.g. the World-Wide-Web on the Internet, GIS/RS and other computer simulation and modeling tools, e.g. STELLA. Two interdisciplinary courses being developed by Westminster College will be the primary venues for testing and diffusing these innovations. An introductory course entitled: GEOL/BIOL/HON 300 Earth Systems and Global Environmental Change and a senior-level course: GEOL/8IOL/HON 400 Methods of Modeling and Visualizing Global Change. News about the ESSE collaborating institutions and courses, electronic materials produced, evaluation findings, and other resources will be made available on the Web via the USRA/ESSE server and homepage.

Introduction: Coping with global change in marine social-ecological systems

This article studies the incidence of the bioeconomic agenda within the ongoing technological and scientific revolution and its link with inter-regional relations, in the framework of an international system in transition. In this sense, the theory of structural power is proposed as an analytical tool to observe the power relations that can emerge in relation with the development cooperation processes and the consequent configuration of new governance articulations related to sustainable development. It also reflects on the opportunities and challenges concerning this productive paradigm and it focuses on the upcoming relevance of its agenda for the east-west relations between Russia and the European Union. The article argues that although Russia is not among the most important global competitors in the field of bioeconomy, its structural qualities gives the country an important relational power in its connections with other countries/regional configurations. Within the framework of its relations with the European Union, the development of the bioeconomy emerges as a possible scenario of negotiation and dialogue that may renew the currently conflicted bilateral agenda in the face of future development challenges. That would create possibilities to boost confidence in the sharing of scientific and technological information, and also to forge mutually beneficial inter-dependencies. Regarding the methodological strategy, the general approach consists of the premise that global systemic changes generate either incentives or restrictions for technical cooperation around scientific and technological innovation. In this framework, global changes refer both to globalization, as well as to the technological revolution and the urgency around contemporary socio-ecological challenges, and the growing importance of the bioeconomic paradigm in the multilateral spheres of international cooperation. The methodological design is based on a qualitative-exploratory case study, with an explanatory aim.

Greening the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology.

In recent years, the urgent issue of how climate change affects food security has emerged as a significant concern. This paper highlights the complex interplay between food security and global climate change by examining the role of climate change in the food system, the interrelationship between food security and global climate change, and adaptation strategies to address these challenges. With a comprehensive analysis focused on China, this study systematically examines the complex dynamics linking food security and global climate change. The findings reveal important insights: (1) Global climate change is exacerbating insecurity in the food system and increasing its impact on Chinese food production; (2) Food demand emerges as the main driver of global climate change, while redistribution of food production factors exacerbates the climate crisis. (3) A synergistic and sustainable response can be achieved through a multi-pronged approach to addressing global climate change while ensuring food security and micro level, resilience. To effectively combat global climate change and ensure food security, this study highlights the critical importance of using micro-technologies for grain storage, prioritizing ecological building, pursuing a market-based approach at the macro level, and improving the food policy framework. In the context of global climate change, this study argues for a paradigm shift in food security research and a transition from a singular disciplinary, dimensional, and resource-centered approach to a multidisciplinary, multifactorial, and systematic integration of research. This transformative approach aims to promote a low-carbon and efficient food system that’s resilient to the challenges of global climate change.

A Culture of Neglect: Climate Discourse and Disabled People

Conflicts between agriculture and biodiversity conservation in Europe: Looking to the future by learning from the past

Human consumption of fish has been trending upwards in the past decades and this is projected to continue. The main sources of fish are from wild fisheries (marine and freshwater) and aquaculture. Climate change is anticipated to affect the availability of fish through its effect on these two sources as well as on supply chain processes such as storage, transport, processing and retail. Climate change is known to result in warmer and more acid oceans. Ocean acidification due to higher CO2 concentration levels at sea modifies the distribution of phytoplankton and zooplankton to affect wild, capture fisheries. Higher temperature causes warm-water coral reefs to respond with species replacement and bleaching, leading to coral cover loss and habitat loss. Global changes in climatic systems may also cause fish invasion, extinction and turnover. While this may be catastrophic for small scale fish farming in poor tropical communities, there are also potential effects on animal protein supply shifts at local and global scales with food security consequences. This paper discusses the potential impacts of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture in the Asian Pacific region, with special emphasis on Southeast Asia. The key question to be addressed is “What are the impacts of global climate change on global fish harvests and what does it mean to the availability of fish?”

This work demonstrates how large‐scale Aquarius satellite salinity data have provided an unprecedented opportunity when combined with total alkalinity (TA) equations as a function of salinity and temperature to examine global changes in the CO2 system. Alkalinity is a gauge on the ability of seawater to neutralize acids. TA correlates strongly with salinity. Spatial variability in alkalinity and salinity exceed temporal variability. Northern Hemisphere has more spatial variability in TA and salinity, while less variability in Southern Ocean TA is due to less salinity variability and upwelling of waters enriched in alkalinity. For the first time it is shown that TA in subtropical regions has increased as compared with climatological data; this is reflective of large‐scale changes in the global water cycle. Thus, as temperature and salinity increase in subtropical regions, the resultant increase in TA and ocean acidification is reinforcing that from oceanic uptake of atmospheric CO2.